It will be observed that the example which follows is one that may be profitably emulated by any, regardless of rank in life.
Carolina Corradi was born September 1, 1856, in Mastetlen, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. She was the youngest but one of eleven children, born of parents who were only in moderate circumstances, and therefore the help of all the children able to work was required to maintain the reputation for thrift which the family had always enjoyed.
The parents were honest, industrious, intelligent, but not specially pious people. Her father, Johannes Corradi, was a rather ingenious man, able to turn his hand to almost any kind of work, and as kind-hearted and self-sacrificing a man as could be found anywhere, and generous almost to a fault. He was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and especially by his children. The mother was an exceptionally good housekeeper, and possessed rare tact as a manager, and developed into quite a business woman, especially after her husband's death, when it became her duty to manage the material affairs of the family. She was also known by her intimates to possess a gift of prescience, or the ability to see things before they actually transpired. By this gift she evidently foresaw something of the future of her daughter Carolina while she was yet a young child, and insisted that she learn the French laundry business, as the time would come when she would find it an advantage to work at it. Carolina was the only child concerning whom the mother had this impression, although the other daughters were apparently as well adapted for that kind of work as she was, and there was nothing about her to indicate that she, any more than the others, would ever need to work at it. Like many other branches of knowledge or craft, the secrets of French laundry work were only to be obtained by sacrifice, and so the parents of Carolina paid a considerable sum of money for the privilege, and bound her to serve without pay for a certain period to have her learn from those who were skilled in that line.
She was apt at learning, became a very proficient hand, and followed that line of employment for about three years while her mother still lived, (her father having died when she was fourteen years of age.) The mother died in 1883, leaving the children, who, however, were all grown to maturity by that time, to shift for themselves. Her last words to Carolina were that she must not mourn or despair because of her death, as there was something great prepared for her, of which she was then in ignorance, but of which she would learn in due time. She said nothing of the kind about the other children, and the family talked about the fact after the mother's death and decided among themselves that it meant that Carolina was somehow going to become possessed of wealth. They had faith in their mother's ability to see things that were coming to pass, and they couldn't think of anything quite so desirable in their estimation as wealth.
Carolina went out to service, and was mostly engaged in general housework. While the parents lived the family never learned of the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints, but some years later it was brought directly to the attention of some of the surviving members of the family, and Carolina alone of all of them was attracted by it. She joined the Church in the year 1889, and was so impressed with the doctrine of salvation for the dead, that she soon afterwards wrote a letter to the clerk of the parish in which her parents were born, to obtain information in regard to their ancestors. This was done in the hope that she might, at some time in the future, be able to have a vicarious work done in their behalf. To her gratification, the parish officer proved to be a distant relative, by the name of Corradi, and he supplied her with the names of her ancestors for a few generations—thirty-five or thirty-six names in all. They were all she was able to obtain, or knew where to obtain, before she migrated to Utah (which she did in the year 1891,) and she came here with a strong desire that they should have all the privileges of the Gospel that they might have enjoyed had they accepted of it in mortality.
She inherited enough from her parents' estate to pay for her emigration to Utah and leave $35.00 in her pocket when she landed here. That was the amount of her capital at the inception of her career here in Utah, less than twenty-three years ago. She had no relatives, and few acquaintances, in this land, and was unfamiliar with the language of the country.
She obtained work in a laundry at the lowest price paid to inexperienced hands, and was glad to get it. She was devoted to her religion, was faithful in attending meetings, paying her tithes and fast offerings, and never lost sight of the duty that she so early felt to be resting upon her, to do all that was in her power for the salvation of her dead kindred. In the meantime she had been acquiring a knowledge of the English language, but it was six years after she arrived in Utah before she began her vicarious work in the Temple. She was not able to follow this work up continuously—only to spend a day at a time, but the spirit of the work grew upon her. She was able to officiate for the females of her kindred, but she was in doubt as to how to proceed to get the work done for her male kindred. While in this state of anxiety the Spirit prompted her to apply to Niels P.L. Eskildz, with the assurance that he would faithfully serve, and be of great assistance to her. She accordingly applied to him, and, as already related, obtained his consent. When all those whose names she had were officiated for, she was favored with an open vision, in which a person appeared to her and told her that she had a great work yet to perform in behalf of her dead kindred—that she would do the work for more than a thousand.
At that time she did not know where she could get another name, and earned so little by her work (she never was paid more than $1.10 per day at the laundry, and much of the time only received $1.00 per day) that she couldn't foresee how she could ever afford to pay for having her genealogy traced up and obtain more names. She had recently been trying to obtain laundry work (ironing) in private families, with a view to earning more than she had been able to at the laundries, but had not yet succeeded to any great extent. She felt, however, that the Lord had inspired the promise made to her, and that He could and would provide a way for its fulfillment, but how she could not forsee.
Soon afterwards she obtained work in her line in a private wealthy family, where she was able to earn $2.00 per day, and also learned of a man who was engaged in the business of tracing up genealogies, whom she employed to obtain the names of her ancestors. She has since obtained several extensive lists of names, including several lines of her ancestors, and has now had Brother Eskildz regularly employed for several years, whenever he has been able to do so, officiating for her dead male kindred, while she has employed women, and occasionally spends a day in the Temple herself, laboring for her female kindred. She has thus done herself, or hired others to do the work, for almost 1800, and by the time she completes the work for all the names she has, the number will be increased to fully 1900.
She has done this as a labor of love, and found great joy and satisfaction in so doing—in fact, feeling repaid as she has proceeded by the enjoyment the work has afforded her, for all the labor and sacrifice it has involved. While her earnings have never been munificent, she has maintained a decent, respectable appearance, keeping house in from one to three rented rooms, and honestly paid her way and done her duty as a church member—all from her own earnings.